"what about trash cymbals"

don't forget your gloves when handling trash...do they have a digital version of a trash cymbal?

I'm not sure actually. They do have really ugly ride sounds that I cant imagine ever using.

hiredgeek wrote:hit the drums hard, go easy on the cymbals. the hi-hat did not rape your sister, as mixerman once wrote.

this is what i'm trying to do at the moment: i can generally hold off on smacking the cymbals but find it really hard to control myself on the hi-hat. it's just so hard to hit it quietly (well, quieter.)

Ok, here's the story with me and drumming for anyone who's bored enough to read it.

About 10 years ago I was sitting around with a couple of friends, we were about 17, and we said it'd be good to play some music together if only we knew a drummer. I said I didn't mind playing drums instead of guitar but I don't know how to drum. So my friend, who had a very basic knowledge of drum beats, had me tap on his kitchen table with my hands and showed me the most basic 4/4 drum beat (does it have a name? I don't know) and I went home and practiced on my knees.

The next week we went to a rehearsal studio, my first time in one and my first time playing a drum kit. We mostly played Nirvana songs. Infact we probably only played Nirvana songs. Now I don't mean to sound like an arrogant prick but the honest truth is that in the space of those first 3 hours at a drum kit I jumped straight to intermediate level. I couldn't explain the theory then and probably still couldn't now but I just understood it. All the basics anyway.

So we began going once a week. Just fucking about with Nirvana songs and a few others, just for fun. I even bought a drum kit but there were complaints so I had to get rid of it after a couple of weeks. Then, after a few months, we just stopped. I didn't play drums again for the best part of a decade. Went back to playing guitar and joined a band and forgot all about drums.

Then, two years ago, my friend bought himself an electronic kit and I sat down and played it. He'd been struggling with it for a few weeks and when I sat down and freaked out on it his jaw dropped. I couldn't help him play anything because I couldn't put it into words. I can just play. So I got myself an electronic kit and started playing every day. Just set it up next to my stereo and bashed away happily to all my old cds (not my new cds because my new cds were hella and don cab (although I did nearly master one don cab song which impressed the hell out of my buddy)).

After about 4 months I answered an advert for a drummer. I wasn't ready and still had virtually no experience on a real kit but decided to throw myself in at the deep end, as they say. The band was cool but it was two guys making lots of experimental noise and no bass player so I had no idea what I should be playing. So I played any and every beat I could think of. Sounded kinda like Explosions in the Sky, Sonic Youth, Mogwai, etc.

As the weeks went by I got better, harder, faster, funkier, more complex and at times jazzier. Then after 4 or 5 months the band fizzled out. I moved out into a new place and didn't have my drums and stereo in the same room so I just stopped playing. Didn't touch them at all for 12 months. Until about two weeks ago.

I was on the verge of selling them, almost had a buyer too, then decided to set them up in my living room and have a fuck around for one last time. God damn. I love the drums! Why haven't I been playing? My TV broke last week so I've had nothing else to do every evening but play. James Brown, Gene Pitney, Shellac, The Doors, Guns n Roses, Slint, Diana Ross (wtf?), Tom Waits, Pixies, everything I could think of that had a cool beat, regardless of the style.

Now I have no idea what to do next. How to progress. I can't afford lessons, can't even really afford drumming dvds and books. I did have one book but I breezed through it in a week and didn't learn anything new. I just looked up some intermediate drumming lessons on youtube but they seem like childs play. I picked up a drumming magazine the other day (load of wank, btw) and read one of the lessons. It seemed impossible. Then I sat down and tried to play it and realised it was a fill I've played a thousand times, except I can't picture it in my head or explain it in words or even write it down - I just play it. Does that sound stupid? I've tried, once or twice, to practice paradiddles but they just seem stupid. Childish even.

God damn this is long winded. Did I have a point?


I guess I just wanna know what you guys do to practice and how do you keep up the interest? Because after I've exhausted all my favourite albums I can see myself just packing them away again and forgetting about them. But I don't want to. Drumming might be the only thing I was ever a natural at, yet I'm lackadaisical about it.

Also, what are your favourite Shellac songs to play along to? Because lately I'm all about the Shellac. Especially: Elephant, Rambler Song, Song of the Minerals, The Admiral, and The Dog and Pony Show.


I started this thread because I had a bunch of questions to ask and now my minds gone blank after writing all that pointless crap. I'll be back!

this thread is cute. in a good way.
i also started playing some drums some weeks ago. mostly because our drummer is a pretty capable singer, and plays guitar too, and we are playing some of their songs, and we think that drummers singers just look wrong. so we switch places. i can hold a beat. it´s fun. it´s ridiculously different compared to playing any other instrument.
salut rotten tanx and best of luck luck in your drumming adventures!

Rotten Tanx I really think you need to start or join a band as a way of keeping your interest going. Or not even "start a band" as in intentionally start a band, but just find some friends who play music and suggest to them that you all get together and play.

I wish I knew an enthusiastic drummist in London...

I had a few lessons years ago from a friend who was a very good drummer. After 2 weeks it was quite obvious to both of us that I had no natural ability. I'm envious of your natural talent.

I should probably clarify. I'm not great or anything. If you heard me you wouldn't be like "God damn that's one hell of a drummer."

I just went from zero to intermediate really quickly and then stayed there.

But that's why I think you should keep it going. Playing with other musicians has got to be a good way of keeping your interest up. And learning new stuff too.

Drummers are a pretty rare thing. Every second cunt plays guitar (like me) - and almost every guitar player I know is looking for a drummer. You don't have to be an expert, just keen to play and contribute ideas.

Rotten Tanx wrote:I should probably clarify. I'm not great or anything. If you heard me you wouldn't be like "God damn that's one hell of a drummer."

I just went from zero to intermediate really quickly and then stayed there.

read. listen. play.

learn basics you might have skipped. there are a million drum lessons on youtube. (rolls, fills, blah blah blah)

play with other people. i s'pose all you'd need to do that is a fairly loud keyboard amp...or real drums.

practice stupid rudiments, practice with a metronome. practice playing things you like.

Rotten Tanx wrote:Using the butt of the stick doesnt work too well on a digital kit. It reduces the volume.

I'm gonna have to waste a load of money on a bunch of different sticks to find out whats best, arent I? I miss paying 30p for a plectrum.

I've been playing forever and i personally recommend the cheapest ones. I can't tell any difference between wood types or anything. Although nylon tips seem to pop off far too much so i don't bother with them. I used to play 5B and I switched to 7A because I found out I could play really really fast without tiring my wrists. The 5s used to break more often but i just think that with experience, I don't break sticks as much any more. Fewer unintentional rimshots? I break maybe 1 stick every 10 shows and thats carrying like six total for all the shows. Hardly ever break at practice. And i've been described as the "loudest drummer in Chicago" by more than one person even though i know thats complete bullshit. Just saying I'm not a light player. YMMV obviously everybody's different, I just wouldn't assume that its the sticks. Try loosening your wrists if you are too rigid and bashing with your arms you're bound to crack them up.